Throwing unprocessed medical waste into the environment is one of the main forbidden things when it comes to bio-medical waste management West Palm Beach. Speaking of MWM, or it’s bio-medical waste disposal aspect in particular, the Department of Environmental Protection in Maine, U.S. defines biomedical waste as a material that can potentially include human pathogens in a concentration that is hazardous to health. Such waste wold include things like needles, syringes, scalpels and other sharps, used surgical gloves, blood-soaked bandages and wound dressings, sponges, hospital gowns and other material contaminated by blood or other bodily liquids.
There are three main bio-medical waste disposal methods used by health care facilities or by medical waste management companies:
1. Steam sterilization
2. Cremation
3. Chemical decontamination
Let’ us take a look at each of these methods individually.
Steam Sterilization
Steam sterilization is also called autoclaving due to the fact that it is performed using a machine called “autoclave”. This is, in the simplest of terms, a method that involves subjecting solid medical waste to a high water steam pressure for a certain period of time. The pressure inside the autoclave chamber is usually 12 psi and the machine itself should be left to run for about 20 minutes on the temperature of about 250 Fahrenheit. Steam sterilization is, therefore an effective method when it comes to destroying microbiological such as bacteria and viruses and, as such can be used to disinfect medical instruments and render them usable again.
Cremation
Cremation, also known as incineration, is the most commonly used bio-medical waste disposal method. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) even estimated that 90% of all medical waste is destroyed via this particular method and they are probably not far of the mark. The idea here is that, using a large furnace, that runs on extremely high temperature (which can reach more than 500 Fahrenheit), any pathogens like bacteria, viruses or other would be destroyed by high temps and the waste itself would be reduced to ash.
The problem with incinerating medical waste, however, lies in the fact that the method itself can be dangerous to the environment due to the amount of toxic fumes and gases that it produces. Of special concern here are the heavy metals like mercury that end up in the environment. Many agencies and organizations responsible for protecting the environment are trying to make incineration a more Eco-friendly medical waste management method with new demands such as better filtration.
Chemical Decontamination
Chemical decontamination is another medical waste management method which can help in safe bio-medical waste disposal. However, unlike the previous two methods mentioned here (steam sterilization and cremation) chemical decontamination is used for liquid and semi-liquid state biomedical waste. Here, several compounds can be used to treat medical waste, such as phenolic compounds chlorine or quaternary ammonium.
Those were the three most commonly used bio-medical waste disposal methods used today. There are, of course, other methods that a West Palm Beach medical waste management company can use, but they are very rarely used.
